Oh joy, wife and I had our first rollback trip yesterday after the XK8 went into the standard "traction control lost, stability control lost, reduced performance, check engine" routine. Being in a parade with no throttle control kinda bites, wife was totally impressed and reminded me she wanted a Mustang. Got a rollback for the 50 mile trip home and cleared the codes by the hard reset, pull the battery cable method and restarted it and ran it a bit, checked codes and had P0135 and P1121 show up. Cleared those and nothing at the moment. P1121 has zapped me in the past so I suppose I'll clean up the TB connectors and squirt some cleaner in the TB and hope. The P0135 is a bit concerning though, maybe the rain in the morning? Any thoughts?

 

Moisture in the throttle body is always a potential limp home / reduced performance cause. I think your initial plan makes sense....

 

Don - what's a "rollback trip"? In the context of your post, it sounds like a tow. That's a phrase I've never heard.

 

A "Rollback" is a truck that has a Bed that Rolls Backward and then Tilts Downward to permit a vehicle to be winched up onto the bed for transport to a repair facility.

 

Yep, Paul's got it. Course Momma grumped about sitting in the dirty cab and breathing diesel all the way home. Cleaned the connectors to the TB and MAF, packed them with dielectric grease and all's well again. Ran into town and back and no codes thus far. Hopefully the episode is a result of moisture from the morning rain. Really don't want to get involved with the O2 sensors from the P0135 code.

 

Okay. I thought it might be a tow, but never heard it referred to as a rollback. My XJ-S 6.0 made a few trips on one when I had it, but I always requested a "flatbed" truck. Good luck sorting her out. Funny you mention O2 sensors. I sold the XJ-S in frustration to a Jag specialist who took advantage of my ignorance regarding bad O2 sensor grounds. Only after letting him have it for a song did I come across a service bulletin in my files that covered the exact situation. I had brought it to him to figure out why I couldn't pass emissions inspection, even with new sensors. He said he was stumped. Either he was the least informed Jag specialist in Connecticut or a unscrupulous thief. I tend to believe the latter.

 

An afterthought: So no one thinks I am being overly critical of the shop I sold the XJ-S to, I should add that I was naive enough to tell them when I brought the car in that I needed to sell it for my daughter's college tuition, but couldn't do so until I cleared up the emissions problem. (Btw, I had tried two different sets of O2 sensors with no luck.) His solution was to replace the thermostat. I was pretty skeptical that that would help, but figured he was the expert. This was a well known shop here with its own racing team. Needless to say, the new stat did nothing and he offered no other solutions. Frustrated and needing quick cash, I asked if he would want to buy it and of course he did. He dickered me down several thousand and got himself perhaps the most desirable XJ-S made -- a lower mileage 1995, last year for the 6.0 convertible and in perfect condition, except for the emissions issue. It was months later that I stumbled across the sensor ground bulletin. Live and learn, eh?